Courts

INDEPENDENCE – A trial date has been set for a suspect charged in the July 14 malicious shooting of a man in Fries.

According to the Virginia courts database, John Ford Gilliam of Woodlawn, who is charged with the use of a firearm in commission of a felony and malicious wounding resulting in permanent impairment, has a four-hour trial set in Grayson County Circuit Court on Jan. 24, 2019.

The City of Galax, which filed a lawsuit against opioid drug manufacturers and distributors this summer, has joined with 10 other Virginia localities that filed similar legal action in asking the Virginia Supreme Court to determine where the lawsuits should be heard.

This summer, Galax sued the prescription painkiller makers and distributors for their role in allegedly creating the public health emergency caused by prescription opioids like OxyContin.

ABINGDON – Lelana Long, 37, of Meadows of Dan, was sentenced last week to 10 years and one month in prison, bringing to an end Operation Rolling Thunder, a drug investigation that charged a total of 24 people in Virginia and North Carolina for their part in a methamphetamine distribution network.

Long was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Abingdon on a charge of methamphetamine trafficking, according to U.S. Attorney Thomas T. Cullen.

INDEPENDENCE — A former music teacher indicted on a number of charges in connection with alleged inappropriate relationships with minor students, has been scheduled for a plea and sentencing hearing in Grayson County Circuit Court next year.

According to court records, Jessica Kincaid Snow, 33, of Fries, will be seen in court on Jan. 17, 2019, at 9 a.m. Snow was previously scheduled for a trial to be set in her case on Oct. 26.